reid. both democrats wanted to make sure president obama will not freeze them out of fiscal cliff negotiations. far from frozen, some set of republicans appear to be warming to higher tax rates on households earning more than $250,000. if and only if that leads to benefit cuts in health care entitlements like medicare and medicaid. >> give the president the 2% increase that he's talking about, the right increase on the top 2%, and all of a sudden, the shift goes back to entitlements. >> but house republicans, the key to any fiscal cliff deals remains suspicious. >> the president wants the rates to go up, that doesn't solve the problem. we don't want to be back here in another year, in another ten years answering the same questions. >> reporter: the republican co-chairman of the deficit reduction commission said higher tax rates are inevitable. >> if anybody out there who's, quote, rich doesn't think their taxes go up, the drinks are on me. i'll cover it. >> reporter: mr. obama and house dem